Victorian Silver Cigar Box
These Victorian silver cigar box pieces offer proper desk and table storage for tobacco, holding the weight and shine of nineteenth-century metalwork.
Victorian Silver Cigar Box
A victorian silver cigar box sits on desks and smoking tables, designed to keep tobacco moist or dry according to the interior lining. You meet larger table boxes alongside smaller pocket cases and travel holders.
The objects span solid sterling silver, silver gilt, and silverplate, often combined with wood, leather, glass, or enamel. Makers formed them into rectangular caddies, novelty shapes, and double-lidded humidors.
Quality factors
Substance separates standard containers from superior examples, with heavier gauge silver and solid wood or cedar linings marking better manufacture. The presence of original keys and functional locks alters the integrity of a piece.
Makership and structural complexity dictate distinction, from plain rectangular table boxes to novelty designs, silver gilt finishes, and multi-compartment smoking compendiums.
Victorian Silver Cigar Box Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical asking prices for victorian silver cigar box among the pieces listed under this phrase on Sellingantiques today, from the lower quarter to the upper quarter. They describe what is for sale here now, not the wider market.
Listings feature sterling silver, silverplate, metal, silver gilt, and cut glass across nineteenth-century forms.
Sampson Mordan Co·Jane Brownett Alexander Jones·Wright Davies·Thomas Diller·George Henry James
The Victorian Silver Cigar Box Glossary
- Sterling silver
- A silver alloy containing 92.5 percent pure silver by mass, forming the primary metal standard for British tabletop boxes.
- Silver gilt
- Sterling silver that has been coated with a thin layer of gold on the interior surfaces, protecting the metal from tobacco tars.
- Vesta case
- A small pocket box fitted with a striker, designed to hold matches alongside cheroot and cigar accessories.
- Compendium
- A fitted smoking box or carriage combining multiple accessories, such as cigar storage and match holders, into one object.
- Reeded
- Surface decoration formed of parallel convex mouldings, often seen wrapping around the curved bodies of pocket cases.
Victorian Silver Cigar Box: Frequently Asked Questions
What fits inside a Victorian cigar box?
These boxes accommodate cheroots, cigars, and cigarettes, depending on whether the internal space measures for pocket carrying or table storage.
Larger wooden or cedar-lined table boxes hold multiple cigars, while curved vesta cases and pocket holders take smaller numbers for personal use.
How do I clean a silver cigar box?
Maintenance requires soft cloths and standard silver cleaner applied gently around engraved details and reeded surfaces to preserve the hallmarks.
Cedar wood linings and leather interiors need dry dusting rather than liquid polish to avoid water damage.
Did all cigar boxes have wood linings?
Many table boxes feature cedar wood interiors to regulate moisture for the tobacco, while others rely on plain silver or silver gilt.
Travel cases and novelty compendiums often utilise leather or glass fittings instead of timber.
How do I date a silver cigar box?
Hallmarks stamped into the silver provide the exact year of manufacture, assay office, and maker's mark for British pieces.
Stylistic indicators like reeding, novel shapes, and combination with materials such as coromandel also point to nineteenth-century production.